Old Cars Weekly – 22 August 2019

Sound Your Horn

A tall man’s ’57 T-Bird experience

I enjoyed Angelo Van Bogart’s editorial on his 1957 Thun-

derbird experience as it brought back memories. A buddy

and I bought a powder blue 1957 T-Bird in the mid ’70s that

was all original. We paid $5,000 for it and only had to paint

the porthole top. We drove it for a few months and sold it for

$6,000. What was funny was that my friend, who is 6 feet 3

inches, was talking to the lady owner and telling her that this

was the car he always wanted. When he fi nally was able to buy

this one, he had to crunch down to drive it and looked silly.

Harold Drake, Drake Restoration

A step-down Hudson truck?!

Here’s a picture of a Hudson pickup at a stock car race at

the Michigan State Fairgrounds in Detroit during the summer

of 1951. The truck advertises T.W. Chapman Auto Wrecking

of Strattanville, Pa., on the bed side and Hudson sales and

service on the door. The Chapman family is still in the auto

salvage business in western Pennsylvania. I believe Hudson

pickups such as this one were made from 1949-1951 solely

for dealer use.

The Henry J race car in the background of the picture

dropped out of the race after 165 laps. I think a 1950 Olds 88

won the race that day.

John R. Mesch, Macungie, Pa.

Department of Corrections

I was interested in John Gunnell’s article about the origi-

nal-owner 1959 GMC 860 in the July 18 edition. The article

is informative, howeversomewhat inaccurate, as I have owned

this truck since 1981, being at least the third owner after Mc-

Coy/McMorHan. As near as we can tell, the McCoys sold the

truck sometime in the ’70s and it was used locally around its

original hometown of Shullsburg, eventually ending up in

Cuba City, Wis., where I purchased it from the local feed mill

owner. We restored it in 2000 and refreshed in 2016, which

included lettering the doors to the exact format it had origi-

nally. It was featured on the cover of Wheels of Time magazine

(ATHS) in the September/October 2016 issue along with a

detailed story inside about the truck and the company.

The truck and trailer are currently displayed on loan to the

Iowa 80 Trucking Museum in Walcott, Iowa.

JimFrancis Warren, Ill.

BobRiding,ofSangar,Calif.,ownsthis

cool 1940 PlymouthWestchesterSemi

SedanSuburban,alsoknownasthe

DeluxePlymouthstationwagon.“Ithas

theoriginal218-cidflatheadsixmotor

andtranny,andcanseateightadults,”

hesays.“Itfeaturesa restoredradio

andheater,andabsolutelycorrect

replacementwoodmadebytheKline

BrothersofPennsylvania.It was

manufacturedattheLosAngelesplant

inOctober 1939 andspentitsentirelife

ona turkeyranchinTonopa,Nevada.

I purchasedit asa wreckfromthe

secondownerin 2003 andworkedonit

onandofffor 12 years.”

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Reader

Wheels

12 ❘ August 22, 2019 http://www.oldcarsweekly.com